Introduction

FUNCTIONAL INTERIORS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS 4(2+2)
Lesson 19 : Designing for the Visually Impaired Children

Introduction

Vision is the primary learning modality and source of information for most children. No other sense can stimulate curiosity, integrate information or invite exploration In the same way, or as efficiently and fully, as vision does. A child who comes into the world without a dependable visual system, or without vision at all, has to navigate through the incomplete messages received through the other sensory modalities in order to put a whole picture of the world together. The visually impaired child needs to determine how to organize this incomplete information and then respond to what may remain a confusing view of the world.

The child who is legally blind may not learn to do things by visual imitation, an integral pathway to learning during early development. Thus, her ability to understand basic life concepts, and the process by which most life tasks are accomplished and brought to completion, is seriously compromised.

Without these essential pieces of information about the world, the ability of the legally blind child to develop effective problem solving skills, a cornerstone to cognition, is seriously challenged. The legally blind child is often left to depend upon the verbal description of the world given him by a sighted person whose view of reality does not match with what the blind person is experiencing. Instruction specific to his disability is essential for the young child who is blind or visually impaired in order to meet his unique needs which should be considered while designing interiors.

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Last modified: Monday, 9 July 2012, 6:35 AM